What's preoperative chemo like for triple-negative breast cancer?

The preoperative chemotherapy journey can feel overwhelming, but reaching out to connect with others who understand this path shows real strength. Many community members have shared that having practical strategies for managing side effects, staying organized with appointments, and finding small daily comforts made a meaningful difference during treatment. Hopefully others in the community will share their experiences and tips to help support you through this important phase of your treatment plan.

Hi Alice, That's how my treatment plan started for TNBC, but I was stage 3B. I wish you the best in your treatment. Remember everyone's journey is different.

Hi Alice, I’m sorry you have this diagnosis but treatments have improved in last 5 years. Each person is different, with varying treatments & reactions to them. Get the info you need to be comfortable with your decisions. Second opinions can be very helpful. I have Stage 1 TNBC, no node involvement. In February, I started neoadjuvant chemo (dose dense AC for 4 two week cycles followed by 12 weekly cycles of Taxol, completed AC with Neulasta shot & 4 Taxol cycles. So far so good. I haven’t had major side effects during either part other than losing my hair & some fatigue. Most say Taxol is usually “easier” than AC but can vary. Day to Day Be as active as your strength allows, walking or exercise helps you feel better & keeps circulation going but rest as needed. Get fresh air. Stay positive as possible & ask family & friends for help. They want to do so. Due to other condition, I couldn’t take standard anti nausea meds. So had the premeds at infusion & took dexamethasone for 3 days afterward. Also wore Blissful wrist bands for nausea/seasickness for Infusion & 3 days afterward, can be worn 24/7. (Blissful has multiple wrist sizes available on Amazon as Sea-bands (CVS) were to tight for me). For Taxol, I didn’t do cold cap but am using cold mittens & socks to prevent neuropathy during Taxol for 90 minutes total with 2 sets. To avoid frostbite or cold injury. I wear medium weight wool socks, not cotton & mitten ski liners. Take breaks if needed. My oncologist recommended practicing mindfulness for mental health. InsightTimer (icon is small wooden bowl) is a free app or paid subscription that I’ve found helpful. Remember everyone is different and you need make the right decision for yourself. I hope my experience shows it may not be as bad as imagined. I wish you strength & positivity during treatment and beyond. God Bless you and your family & medical team

Yes, I had my first chemotherapy yesterday everything went smoothly I just feel little nauseous this morning.

Thank you all for your encouragement and information. God Bless You

Hi Alice. I’m in treatment for stage 2 TNBC. Had my 10th of 12 taxol chemotherapy sessions. 2 more to go. I have Keytruda every 3rd week. The taxol chemotherapy was tolerable but the Keytruda caused some nausea. I try to eat healthy, rest and walk when I can. I use insight timer to do meditation and it really helps me. I try to think about the one thing I have ahead of me versus thinking of all the treatments ahead. Good luck. We are all together going through this. M

For those with TN, plan to fight hard and try to kill it all off (stem cells included). It's a tricky one. I was 5 years out and let my guard down. I got one tumor in my lung. I was lucky it was just one. I had a lobectomy and so far NED 1.7 year. I am very holistic and do lots of supplements etc.

@MarlaF What do mean fight hard? I thought the risk off reoccurrence dropped after 5 years with TNBC.

Thank you all for your encouragement. I had my second round of chemotherapy yesterday, no energy and the nausea was bad. My grand daughter made me a smoothie that took all that away. Berries and peanut butter yogurt. It really helped. I feel energize today. It a good day.

Hi Alice, I was diagnosed with the same thing in February. started my first round of carboplatin, Taxol and Keytruda on March 17th doing that as the first round, followed by Taxol the next two weeks and repeating this for a total of 4 rounds of the 3 sessions. Then I will switch to Adriamycin, Keytruda and Cytoxal for 4 sessions every 21 days. Then 4 weeks to get my blood count back up and surgery. After surgery I continue with Keytruda every 21 days for 9 sessions. I’ve found that drinking a ton of water 10-12 days have helped work well with my treatment. They give me a steroid which also helps with every treatment and on bad days with both chemos and immunotherapy, I am also given Aloxi which helps with nauseous. I was also given Olanzapine, Zofran, and Compazine for days of nauseousness, but I have been pretty lucky and so far only needed medicine on the days I have all 3 Carbo, Taxol and Keytruda. My energy has been good as well. Usually on those days it hits me two days later and stays with me for 2-3 days.

I also had treatment before surgery. I had Taxol weekly for 12 weeks with carboplatin & keytruda every 3 weeks 4x. Then I switched to adriamycin, cytoxan & keytruda every 3 weeks 4x. After surgery I had 9 keytruda infusions. When I had my double mastectomy my tumor which was 2.2 cm was completely gone. I was stage 2B. I was proactive and took the two anti nausea meds the day after treatment around the clock for several days. I didn’t ever have nausea but as treatment progressed I was very weak and tired. Some of my counts were very low and I had to receive magnesium and potassium regularly as well as fluids. I became neutropenic twice and ended up in hospital once for 5 days and the second time they let me go from ER. I did have to have 4 blood transfusions. I kept my eye on the end result and through prayer, love of family and friends, I made it. I am completely healed 3 years after diagnosis and all my hair has grown back amazing. You can do this! I might add, my son-in-law died at age 33 only 2 weeks after I started treatment. I thought losing my hair was the worst day of my life. It was nothing compared to 4 days later when he died in the front yard with my daughter holding him and leaving behind a 20 month old son. You can do anything and the power of prayer and faith in our Lord will sustain you. Please reach out for any help that I can share. Remember, this will only be a small amount of time compared to what you have already lived and will continue to live. God bless you!

I was diagnosed with TNBC in Feb. Here’s the notes Oncologic History: - 02/16/2026 Breast, right, mass at 10:00 and 5 cmfn, core biopsy:Invasive ductal carcinoma with extensive necrosis, Nottingham grade 3 Axillary tail, right, mass at : Invasive ductal carcinoma, Estrogen Receptor (ER) Status: Negative (0%); Progesterone Receptor (PR) Status:Negative (0%); HER2 : LOW (score 1+) - 02/24/2026 staging CT CAP and bone scan - no evidence of metastatic disease CHEMOTHERAPY/Immunotherapy Each pembrolizumab (Keytruda), doxorubicin (docetaxel), and cyclophosphamide (carboplatin) treatment is repeated every 21 days. This is known as one cycle. Your treatment may be given for a set number of cycles, typically four (4). This regimen is given sequentially following four (4) cycles of pembrolizumab, paclitaxel, and carboplatin. Pembrolizumab may be continued as maintenance therapy for up to 9 cycles following surgery. Pembrolizumab IV given on day 1 Doxorubicin IV given on day 1 Cyclophosphamide IV given on day 1 Meds taken : Keytruda (Pembrolizumab IV), docetaxel (replaced paclitaxel due to neuropathy) & Cyclophosphamide IV docetaxel to replace paclitaxel due to neuropathy - close observation. TCP-ACP I took 45 mg of ivermectin starting 2/28 for 10 days. First chemo and immunotherapy was 3/12 then switched to 30 mg ivermectin the rest of the time. (All family Pharmacy in Boca Roton Florida) Mg based on weight I was 220 now 215 lb Other chemo 4/3, 4/23 and 5/14 on 5/14 oncologist decided to stop carboplatin that time. My tumors shrunk massively after one round of chemo. I had 2. One in lymph nodes node about the size of a jaw breaker candy and on in my rt breast that was down to a pea sized and The one in Breast went from 6.5 cm now 4.5 3/12/26 to 3/26/26 it’s even smaller now. That was after one round. Can barely feel the one on my breast now it’s just thick tissue you have to hunt for. So he didn’t even measure it on 5/14. Have to hunt for the pea in my lymph node too. When this started my lymph nodes in my right arm pit were all swollen horribly. Only had the one tumor in them tho. By the time I I’m finished with chem and immunotherapy there shouldn’t be much left for surgeon to remove. I red an article from 2021 by Dr Peter Lee who was testing ivermectin with immunotherapy that was helping turn the cold tumors hot so the immune system could do its job to get rid of the cancer. That’s been my journey. Best of luck.

My oncologist said at the beginning that he felt like in a few years we won’t have chemo it’ll just be immunotherapy! So they are making progress.

Thank you for sharing your experience Marilyn. So much hope with very effective treatments. I am thrilled you’ve been responding so well. As community moderator I do need to add an evidence based note for others reading that while ivermectin has been explored in early research (in Petri dishes and mice) It is not yet a proven breast cancer treatment. Significant tumor shrinkage is commonly seen with standard chemo plus Keytruda in TNBC. I certainly understand wanting to try everything you can against this disease, but please talk with your oncology team before adding any off-label medications, both during treatment and after 💛 Suzanne (Community Moderator)

He knows.